Monday, November 17, 2014

If you know me at all then you already know that children are a huge part of my life. With all the babysitting I have done and children I have taken care of, I never thought I could love another child like I have loved them.Then Liam came along….

Liam is my crazy, sweet, hilarious, ALL BOY nephew, and to say that I love him is an absolute understatement. When he was born in January of 2012, I can honestly say my life changed forever. It's a hard to describe kind of love and I never thought it could be replicated.Then Bennett came along….Bennett is my gorgeous, precious, BRAND NEW niece, and just like that my world changes again.

Bennett Kate Wright

November 15, 2014

8 lbs 10 ounces

With Will and I leaving for Japan shortly, I could not feel more blessed to have been there for her arrival. This little girl has already stolen my heart and watching her grow will be so fun…even if it is from Japan the first few years.I think we can all agree that making pretty babies is a talent in the Wright household. Will and I have always admired the love that Ben and Elkie share for each other and for the Lord. We have always seen them as role models in many areas, and now we can add parents to the list! I plan on being an Aunt many more times…so keep them babies coming!We love you sweet Bennett. Welcome to this crazy family!Love,Aunt "CaCa", Uncle "Wee Wee" and Tubbs

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

After all the guys are done on the boat, hopefully completing their CQ (carrier qualification), there is a patching ceremony. The flight suits they wear have different patches on them, one being the patch acknowledging which squadron they belong to. Up until now they have all had the training squadron patch which is the VFA-106 Gladiators and looks like this:

While some of the guys already know which squadron they are going to prior to the patching, the ceremony confirms this and also gives them their new patch for their flight suit. Usually a few members from the new squadrons are at the ceremony so they can present the newest member with their new patch. Needless to say there weren't any members from Wills new Japan squadron to greet him, so Wills training officer LCDR Pat Baker (call sign "Chunxxx") represented for Japan instead. The new squadron we will be in, is the VFA-102 Diamondbacks and the patch looks like this:

After all the speeches and the excitement of the new patches, the rest of the night was just mingling with everyone and enjoying what could be the last time we saw a lot of them for a while.

The Skipper talking to all the guys

Some of the guys and their new patches!

Sadly two of our favorite guys were missing in this group because they had already been deployed that day and making their way out to Bahrain. Out of all the guys pictured, other then a few marines, every one of them have been stationed in Virginia Beach….except Will. A few weeks ago I would have seen that as so frustrating, but after hearing all the encouragement from so many people at the ceremony, we are excited to be the different ones! Will and I had a lot of instructors who had lived in Japan at some point, go out of their way to tell us how amazing this experience is going to be.I can honestly say that this ceremony was probably the turning point for me and my emotions. I needed that comfort in knowing so many people, including ones with kids, loved Japan while they were there and even missed it from time to time. I realized that I needed to see this as an adventure and know that I was about to see things and experience things a lot of people will never get to do. Being able to do this with Will is also going to be such an amazing growing opportunity for us and our relationship, not only with each other but with God too. He has opened this incredible door for us and instead of hesitating and being scared about whats on the other side, we have decided to take it full on and love every minute of it.

With everything going on this past month, I am
going to do my best to catch you up…so bear with me!

Will flies the F-18 Super Hornet here in Virginia
Beach where we have lived for a little over a year now.

Will Flying on Family Day in October

For the past few months we knew the end of Wills
training was coming up and we would either be staying in Virginia Beach or
moving away. We put our preferences in this summer like this:

1. Virginia Beach, Virginia (we want to stay!)

2. Lemoore, California (could be fun…)

3. Atsugi, Japan (please God no!!)

Up until recently, Will and I were pretty
confident in our chances to stay in a squadron in Virginia Beach. Knowing
the next move would be for the next 3.5 years, I think secretly I made myself
believe there was no way we were moving away from our family. I was fully
prepared to stay in Virginia Beach…but the Navy apparently had other plans for
us.

Will left to do his Carrier Qualification the
morning of Monday October 27. The Carrier Qualification is when you are on an
Aircraft carrier and you have to land and "catch the wires" a certain
amount of times. He was on the boat for 5 days while I was at home
anxiously waiting to hear how he did!

The panoramic picture Will sent me on the Aircraft Carrier

Will got home the afternoon of Friday, October 31
just in time to help me pass out Halloween candy to all the kiddos in our
neighborhood. He told be he had done very well and qualified PRI A (PRI A=
Varsity and PRI B= Junior Varsity which is how I kind of see it) which meant he
was able to be deployed right away or be sent to Japan where there was a slot
open. The whole weekend we waited. Will was very calm and collected while
I was an absolute crazy woman just wanting to know where we were headed!

Monday November 3 came around and Will, along
with 4 other guys in his class, were called in for a meeting on base. Again, I
was almost positive this was going to be the meeting where they told Will that
some other guy was going to fill the Japan slot and we got to live happily ever
after in Virginia Beach. About an hour after he left I got a phone call that
went something like this…

Me: "Hey! So…what did we get?"
(sarcastically asking knowing it was Virginia Beach)

Will: "Well…its not great news".

Me: silent (heart sink)

Will: "They are sending us to Japan"…

Me: "Haha ok Will stop joking".

Will: "Caroline, I'm not joking".

Me: "Ok Will, this really isn't funny,
stop".

Will: "Caroline, I'm really not kidding. We
are moving to Japan".

Me: "Ok…I'll see you when you get
home…".

Cue the INSTANT melt down.

It's really hard to describe the feeling I had
in that moment because our entire world just got flipped upside down. I
honestly had not even let myself prepare for Japan because it seemed to surreal
to even try. Fast forward to today, 1 week later I honestly can say the
news has sunk in and we are actually really excited to start this new
adventure!

The Cravens are moving to Atsugi, Japan!

We have put our full trust in the Lord knowing
there is a huge reason why we are moving here. We know its going to be tough
but knowing there is a plan set before us is so exciting to see how it
unfolds. Please pray for us as we continue to accept the fact that we are
leaving for 3.5 years! We still don't know the exact day we leave, but we
have been told to expect it to be the first of December. Stay tuned for so many
more post and updates as we make our way across the world…we really hope you are 'Craven Adventure' too because here we go!